Doctor Who_ Head Games Part 13

'Harder,' he continued, 'but not impossible.' Mel struggled to 101 look at him and grinned as she saw that he had freed himself. 'I studied with Houdini. It's simple to shrug off the ropes, the hard part is the timing.'

'Then I hope it's the right time to free me. I'm getting the proverbial hot foot down here!' The attacking dinosaur bellowed its rage again and, as the Doctor worked on her bonds, Mel blinked away heat-coaxed tears and craned her neck to look at it. She regretted that move as she saw it toss its head back and gulp down a native whole. She was repulsed and yet, at the same time, grateful that the tribesmen had provided more attractive targets than their stationary prisoners. The thought made her sick.

'Come on,' the Doctor muttered in her ear. The creepers loosened and fell. He took her hand and dragged her from the pyre. 'While it's occupied, let's go.'

Roz heard Bernice's shocked gasp and sprang for the door, even as her friend propelled herself away from it and collided with her. The pair clung onto each other to avoid falling and Roz lurched out into the open and registered the velociraptor's horribly fast approach. She pushed her friend aside and went for her gun, discharging it and praying she could hit the thing's eyes. She got its mouth instead, the charge impacting with the back of its throat. The beast screeched painfully and veered from its course, bypa.s.sing the TARDIS and collapsing into a squealing heap. Fluke shot it may have been, but Roz glowed visibly as she reholstered her weapon.

'No grey corridors,' said Benny distantly, picking herself up out of the dirt. 'How come we're in "The Land That Time Forgot" all of a sudden?'

'Let's find out.' Roz headed for the tree line with a swagger.

She faltered at the rumblings of animal noises from beyond it.

Benny joined her and they peered into the forest together. 'I don't like the sound of those things much.'

'We'll be all right,' Roz said uncertainly, 'so long as we know where to run to.' She turned to nod at the TARDIS, but caught her breath at the sight of the expansive brick wall behind her.

102.

Bernice looked too and the women exchanged a long-suffering glance. It seems our prison's back,' said Benny.

'Pardon me for being cynical, but shouldn't we be inside it?'

Dr Who followed Jason through the forest, both heedless of the dinosaurs which, after all, had been taught only to eat criminals.

Jason was in a dark mood. 'What's the point of prison if it can't hold the most evil man in the universe?' he grumbled. 'Perhaps when we catch him again, we should kill him.'

At that moment, four gra.s.s-skirted men shot out of the trees and skidded to a horrified stop, their fear of whatever they ran from temporarily balanced by that of the strangers. The group split, each man running for his own life, and Jason launched himself instinctively at the nearest, who shrieked and clawed at his attacker as they crashed to the ground.

'We're looking for a pair of escaped criminals,' he said threateningly, pinning the savage down.

'He can't speak our language,' Dr Who said as the captive struggled and grunted unintelligibly.

Jason faltered, then reached into his pocket and produced an impossibly large, ovoid console, labelled 'UNIVERSAL TRANSLATOR'. 'Where,' he said, speaking slowly and firmly into the device, 'are the prisoners?'

The tribesman stared at him blankly, then uttered something which Jason took to be an answer. He waited eagerly as the translator clicked and hummed. Then a message appeared on its display: 'Ugg (grunt) tree, not-us (grunt) ooog.'

Jason screamed and hurled the device at the nearest tree. It hit hard and evaporated; the primitive took advantage of the distraction to flee.

Dr Who placed a hand on his companion's shoulder. 'They were obviously running from the dinosaurs,' he said. 'They must have attacked their village.'

'So?'

'If there's a civilization here, that's where the Doctor will be.'

'Of course,' said Jason, brightening. 'He would have tried to form the natives into an army against us, wouldn't he?'

103.

'I'm sure he would.'

'So we go where they came from,' said Jason, setting of at a jog.

'Get down!' the Doctor hissed, knocking Mel bodily into the undergrowth. They scrambled behind a tree and waited. When nothing happened, Mel drew breath to complain. But then she heard footsteps and realized how acute the Doctor's senses must be.

'It's them,' she whispered as Dr Who and Jason trotted into view. She felt the Doctor relax as the pair hurried by and out of sight. 'Why didn't we jump them?'

He shook his head. 'Jason's powers are growing as more fictional energy enters the universe. It would be too dangerous to confront him openly.'

'But we can't let him walk free!'

The Doctor stood up and walked briskly back the way his double had come. 'I don't intend to. But if we can get to the TARDIS, we can strand him on this planet - at least, until he thinks of creating a fictional ship. By that time, we'll have returned to the rift and sealed it. Jason's abilities will wane as he exhausts a finite power source.'

'I followed about a quarter of that,' said Mel, running to keep up.

'I never thought grey corridors could look so good,' said Roz as, after ten minutes of concentrated blaster fire on a barred entrance, she and Benny all but fell into the prison building.

They advanced, guns ready, along a row of bolted doors.

'I'd prefer a glimpse of blue panelling,' said Benny. 'How do we get to the TARDIS?'

'I didn't exactly get my bearings when we were last there.' A blackboard by one door caught Roz's attention. In a yellow chalk scrawl, it announced: 'THE FEROCIOUS FROG MAN.

Five Years for Attempted Galactic Domination'. She eyed the viewing hatch curiously, but decided she didn't want to know.

'What if Dr Who's taken it?'

'Even if he has, he'll be back. He still has Cwej to find. And 104 one other, I think.'

'And in the meantime?'

'You can reach for the skies,' someone suggested.

Two armed prison officers had appeared behind them.

Dr Who sighed deeply as he and Jason arrived at the village's remains. 'More lives lost,' he observed sadly. He clicked his fingers and the distant roars ceased.

'What are you doing?'

'Turning off your guard dogs. You should have been more careful.'

'I don't see why,' said Jason petulantly. 'Those primitives were about to side with the Doctor. They deserve all they got.'

'Maybe.' Dr Who halted before a large, crackling fire; it took Jason a moment to register the blackened stakes at its heart. 'It's no wonder they were frightened of me,' said Dr Who. 'They thought I was burning here.'

'But no one's there now.' A dreadful thought occurred to Jason and he turned to his friend with wide eyes. 'The TARDIS!'

'That seems likely.'

'We've got to get back there!'

The Doctor raced down the grey corridors of Galactic Prison, Mel close behind. He grinned as he skidded round the last corner and the familiar shape of the TARDIS appeared. 'I've missed the old girl.' He hurried to it, rummaging in his pockets.

'But we're not out of trouble yet. Not until we seal that rift.'

'Then hurry, Doctor!'

He produced his key and pushed it into the lock.

Unexpectedly, electricity coursed through his arm and the air exploded, catapulting him into the far wall to the accompaniment of Mel's screaming.

She was by his side in seconds and he tried to a.s.sure her that he was all right, merely winded. But the shock's minor physical effects were more than outweighed by the disappointment of failure.

'Some sort of b.o.o.by trap?'

105.

He nodded ruefully. 'A fict.i.tious one. Our friend has more foresight than I expected.' The Doctor cursed in GalIifreyan.

Just when this nightmare had seemed to be ending . . .

'Well, can you defuse it?'

'Unlikely,' he said, allowing her to help him up. 'The usual physical laws don't apply. If Jason said he wanted an "impenetrable lock", then that's what he's got.'

'I hope you're not telling me we're stranded,' Mel said, an old fear visible through her confident expression.

The Doctor answered gravely. 'Unless we can outwit Jason, that's exactly what we are.'

106.

12.

Never That Simple

'Look,' said Roz irritably, 'how many corridors are you planning to march us down?' Her arms were aching from keeping her hands behind her head and she was sick of the sight of grey paint. The guards answered only by prodding their rifles into her back. She scowled.

'How's your sense of direction?' asked Benny. 'I haven't a clue where the ship is.'

'Left at the second junction and straight ahead.' The Doctor breezed into view, that weak woman from the TARDIS beside him. Roz gaped as the guards swung their rifles to cover him.

'Don't worry, they aren't under Jason's direct control and their programming won't be detailed enough to cope with resistance.' He headed for a side corridor and the three women fell cautiously into step with him.

The guards unleashed a volley of blaster fire.

'On the other hand . . .' the Doctor said sheepishly as they hit the floor.

Roz was already in action. She rolled, unholstered her gun and let off six blasts in return. She missed, but the guards stopped firing anyway. They looked momentarily bemused, then turned and marched off. The Doctor bounced back up and grinned. 'I see your aim hasn't improved much.' She opened her mouth to object but he was like a hyperactive whirlwind.

'Now, Benny and Roz meet Mel. Mel, Benny and Roz. Clear?

Good. We've places to go.

'You said the TARDIS was the other way,' Roz pointed out as the Doctor set off at a trot.

'That's not where we're going. Come on.'

Darnak arrived at the detention area and nodded to the two 107 guards who flanked the security door. 'How are the prisoners?'

'They're quiet, Politik.'

'When did you last check?'

'A half-seg ago. No problems.'

'Good.' Darnak looked over his shoulder, then drew the senior guard conspiratorially to one side. 'You have the alien in there? His presence has been requested.' The guard understood.

'And that of the leader's sister.' Darnak flinched at the memory of the contempt in the Superior's voice as she proclaimed that, in Mortannis's 'regrettable' absence, Kat'lanna would have to serve.

'They are in the same cell, Politik.'

'Well, that's convenient. I thought we could do it like this: you take me to see them, I'll pretend to be a sympathizer. I'll slip them the keys, you take an early break and I'll tell the cult to have someone stationed in Streets 23 and 24.' The guard acknowledged these instructions without surprise. This wasn't the first arranged exchange of prisoners. By doing it this way, the authorities could deny their involvement with Enros, although that was an open secret anyway.

The guard instructed his subordinate to hand his keys to Darnak, then he turned to the security door and unlocked it himself. Neither he nor Darnak saw the expression of horror which crossed the other man's face as he searched his pockets in vain.

Darnak had one second to register the presence of eighteen rebels in the detention corridor. Then the senior guard was pushed into him and both tumbled, Darnak's shriek cut of as a flailing armoured elbow filled his mouth.

One explosion of chaos later, a boot struck his head and his world blossomed into bright yellow, fading to black.

The Doctor led the way into a circular room in which three streamlined, plastic s.p.a.cecraft lay. Roz glanced at their flashy, red-and white-striped hulls and snorted: 'They aren't ships, they're toys!'

'Be glad they're here at all. We have Jason's imagination to thank for that.'

108.

'I take it he's connected with the Land of Fiction?' Bernice surmised. She had been thinking over events and, given the White Knight's appearance in particular, that seemed logical.

'He used to be its Master.' The Doctor approached the nearest shuttle and Melanie, Bernice and Roslyn followed, their footsteps clanging on the metal floor.

'We're not back there, are we?'

'Worse than that. This is real.' He reached up and operated a door control in the shuttle's rear section. Roz went first, hauling herself over the rim and into the vessel's cramped interior.